

THE BATKACHIA 01 



^ NORTH AMERICA. 





35 



Families. 



j 



Ethio- 

 pian. 



Kcarc- 

 lic. 



Neo- 

 tiopical 



Total. 





1 

 1 1 





10 





3 

 26 



K 

 36 





1 1 



8 





lIvnoi»ii(];i', 





1 





• 2G 

 3 



9 

 1 



















]2 









I*leiu*'(leli<ljc 





18 1 





3 



1 



21 

 31 











1 





1 5 



6 







1 







Total 



36 i 6 



i 



6 



54 



1J8 





The temperate regions of the New World is, then, the homo of the 

 greatest number of species of Urodela, after which tbe temperate re- 

 gions of the Old World follow. 



The distribution of the families and their species in North America 

 is as follows : 





Families. 



Regions. 





Eastern. 



Austro- 

 liparian. 



Central. 



Sonoran. 



Pacific. 



Cryptobrancliiilai . 





2 

 12 



8 

 3 



1 











Aiublyatomidaj 



6 

 8 

 1 



1 

 1 



i 



1 



8 

 11 

















I 

























26 



17 



1 



1 



20 



The details of distribution are given under the family and generic 

 heads. 



Fhylogeny — This order is probably of considerable antiquity, but no 

 species positively referable to it is known from any pretertiary forma- 

 tion. In tertiary beds we have representatives ot different types. The 

 genus Chelotriton Pomel from the Miocene of Allier, France, has opis- 

 tliocoeclous vertebroe like most of the existing species of Europe, and 

 has in addition an expansion of the neural spine of each vertebra, to 

 which the epidermis was closely adherent, giving a row of rougli plates 

 down the middle line of the back. Heliarchon and Polysemia of Von 

 Meyer are known from specimens from the Miocene beds of Germany. 

 They have apparently the cartilaginous carpus and tarsus of the Amer- 

 ican genera. The Miocene of Switzerland has furnished the remains of 

 a species, probably of Cryptobranchidie, which has been referred to tbe 

 genus Andrias by Tschudi. It is very much like Cryptobrancbus. 



In older formations we have in the North American Laramie the 

 genus Scapherpetou Cope, which may well belong to the (Jrodela, but 

 the skull is unknown. In the Wealden of Belgium the genus Hylaoba- 

 trachus DoUo may belong to this order, but the skull is not yet well 

 known. 



